Xbox ‘720’ to have Radeon 6670 graphics

Microsoft’s next incarnation of the Xbox console will include yet another AMD graphics chip, a Northern Islands-based one, from the likes of it, when it reaches the market in Late 2013.

According to sources close to manufacturing, IGN has established that the upcoming Xbox ‘720’ will feature an AMD Radeon HD 6670-like chip, or at least something of equivalent performance.

To PC users this will look like a pittance, in particular in that timeframe, but to console gamers, the site says, this will be a six-fold gain in graphics performance. It will also be the first time that Xbox gamers will experience true 1080p gaming performance, 3D viewing and DirectX11.

Xenos, the original Xbox 360 GPU based on AMD’s (ATI at the time) R520 architecture, is in its 4th incarnation. After three successful die shrinks it eventually merged with the Xenon CPU in the lastest Xbox 360 S, creating the XCGPU, a single package, dual-die, CPU and GPU combo. Reports make it increasingly likely that Microsoft will merge the PowerPC CPU with the AMD GPU on a 32nm manufacturing process, at least at first, as the first batch of Xbox ‘720’ will go to the game developer community.

Precise details are, to say the least, scarce. AMD has refused to comment on rumours, but politely reminded us that they have also taken the Wii U design. The Xbox GPU, says IGN, will be a further 20 percent more powerful than the upcoming Wii U, which is also another AMD design win.